Becoming Whole
by mollztothewalls13
Summary: Finley St. James is in her last year at Hogwarts when she meets someone she's only seen on a Chocolate Frog card, new Potions professor-George Weasley. It's been ten years since the Battle of Hogwarts and the scars that the war left behind are what creates a bond between the two.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter I

Finley St. James could hardly believe it was her last year at Hogwarts. She hadn't been made Head Girl like she had hoped, but she was captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and that was enough for her.

Images from the insane win against Slytherin the past spring flashed behind her eyes and she had to snap herself out of the memory to unload her black cat, Potter, out from his cage and step onto the train. She named him after Harry Potter, of course. It had been ten years since he defeated Voldemort at the Battle of Hogwarts but it was still not uncommon to hear his name at least once a day in the wizarding world.

Finley had grown up in the wizarding world. In the apartment above Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour, to be exact. Florean was her uncle on her mother's side and had raised her and her brother, Simon, until he was kidnapped and murdered ten years ago (she was seven) and Simon was left to raise Finley and take over the shop. Simon was ten years older than her and was in his seventh year at Hogwarts when the battle took place. He was one of the few Ravenclaws who stayed to fight and had lost his left leg in the process. Their parents were international Aurors based in Norway and had been missing since Finley was one. After her brother stopped receiving letters from them, he packed himself and her up, summoned the Knight Bus on accident, and asked to be taken to Uncle Florean's house. Everyone assumed the St. James' were dead and had come to accept this as fact. In the back of Finley's mind, however, she still believed they were alive and just had to keep quiet for some reason. She never told anyone this.

She always missed her brother while she was at Hogwarts and she felt a hot tear glide down her face at the thought of him running a hand through his long almost black hair like he always did when he was telling a story to a customer, which he did often. Simon was a very good storyteller, even if most of his stories were about embarrassing things Finley had done when she was little. She brushed the thought away and plastered a face of indifference on in time to slide the glass door open and glide into the compartment with her friends.

Her only real friends were her teammates. For a Gryffindor, she was pretty shy. She told herself she only had six friends because everyone was intimidated by her, (she was tall, confident, and not afraid to admit, quite pretty, with a great sense of humour) but she knew deep down that her personality was really just an acquired taste that few had the taste for.

But her teammates were great. There was Angus Smith and Barney Morrison who were the Beaters, Bryony, Clover, and Hazel Rothbard (sisters) who were the Chasers, Jocasta Fields who was the Seeker, and herself, Finley, who was the Keeper. Jocasta and Finley tended to stick together seeing as Bryony, Clover, and Hazel were sisters and Angus and Barney were the only male team members. Jocasta was the epitome of a seeker and the opposite of Finley. Short, perky, and outgoing, with long blonde hair. And boy did everyone love her. In fact, Finley suspected people only tolerated her half the time because she was best friends with Jo.

Jocasta's face lit up when she heard the door close and saw Finley standing there. The small blonde immediately popped out of her seat and bounced over to give Finley a squeeze of a hug around her waist.

"Fin!" Jocasta exclaimed as she released her grip, "I missed you so much!"

Finley sat down, "We wrote each other all summer, Jo." Jo's face fell half a millimeter, "But I missed you too!" Finley hastily added. Jo's face lit back up. She had missed her best friend. A lot, in fact. She followed Jo to the seat and Barney scooted over just enough for her to sit down. She reached over and put her hand on his knee, "Hey Barney!" she smiled. He blushed and mumbled, "Hi Finley." It was fun making Barney feel uncomfortable. He might have been 6'4" and made of pure muscle, with sandy brown curls that framed bright green eyes and a stone jaw, but he was about the closest thing to a puppy that one could bring to Hogwarts, and the only person Finley knew who was easier to make blush than herself. The team loved to exploit this fact.

"Careful, Fin! We still have a few hours before we need to change." Angus chimed in from across the aisle, "Wouldn't want Barn to be uncomfortable for that long." We chuckled and Barney blushed a deeper red. The group settled into a low roar of camaraderie, talking about their summers and possible pranks to play on the Slytherins this year. Finley joined in for a while but soon found herself drifting off to sleep, her head resting against the back of the seat, Potter the cat purring warmly in her lap, and let their chatter be the white noise that finally lulled her to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

She woke up with her head on Barney's shoulder and found that the rest of the compartment was empty. She sat up and looked at Barney, who was awake, reading a very battered copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages_ , "Where is everyone?"

"They went to change into their robes. We'll be at Hogwarts soon."

"Why didn't you go?"

"I didn't want to wake you up," he looked away.

"You're too nice, Barney, really." she smiled at him, "Come on, let's change before we get trampled by a herd of confused first years."

"Oh and you wanted to be Head Girl?" he jibed at her, "Yeah, really great mindset to have about First Years."

"Shut up." she elbowed him in the ribs.

Night had fallen by the time they reached the castle and the seven of them had to split up to get into the carriages pulled by Thestrals. Finley had always been able to see the Thestrals. She had witnessed a group of Death Eaters kill a young little wizard family who happened to be in their way on Diagon Alley before they kidnapped Ollivander from his shop. They took her uncle a few days later. Simon had Disapparated them just soon enough to escape. She was lucky that her brother had been home for Christmas break at that time or she would not have been alive now. A lot of her peers had similar stories.

Despite all the bad that had come from the war, there was one good thing that had changed-the Slytherins. They had a much less bad reputation than they used to. It's not like their parents could be Death Eaters. It's true that the sound of a few of their last names would still prickle the hairs on a few people's necks, but most of them were just extremely exclusive, ambitious, cunning individuals. Arguably still proud bigots for the most part, but at least they weren't truly horrendous people. Not that _all_ of them ever were. The rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin now was more like two siblings who bickered all the time. Which made for very fun Quidditch seasons.

The people in her carriage ended up being herself, Jo, Barney, and Angus, which was usually the case. The Rothbard sisters were practically inseparable. Most people thought they were fraternal twins, when in reality, they were each a year apart. Hazel would be graduating this year with herself, Jo, and Barney.  
Besides the Rothbard's being joined at the hip, Angus and Jo pretended to hate each other so much that they were obviously in love but both parties were too stubborn to admit it. So instead, they made the other's life unbearable. Which, at least, was entertaining for the rest of the lot.

As they were loading onto the carriage, Angus made a dramatic display of opening the door and offering to let Jocasta get in first, which started a five-minute rant from Jo about how she can "do anything I want or need to do without your permission! I'm a witch in the year 2008 and I don't need a wizard to hold a door open for me!"

"Oh, so you don't need my help on the Quidditch field either then, eh?" Angus retorted, "Fine, alright, next time I should just let the bloody bludgers crack you right in half, should I?"

"That's completely different, you git! We're _teammates_! You would keep the bludgers off of another _bloke_ if he were Seeker! I need you out there but I can open a bloody door all by myself because I HAVE HANDS!"

"I have hands, too!"

"Yes and yours' come with a second purpose!"

"And what's that?"

"They're the closest thing you'll ever have to a girlfriend!"

"How DARE you! I've had girlfriends!"

"Moaning Myrtle still doesn't count, Gus."

This went on for the entire ride up to the castle. By the time they got there, Jo and Angus were giving each other the silent treatment, which lasted until after the Sorting.

They got a few new Gryffindors, woop-de-doo. She knew she should've cared more but they just seemed so young to her now. It was hard to relate to their excitement anymore. Barney was right, she would have made a terrible Head Girl.

After the sorting, Headmistress McGonagall took to the old, ornate, golden podium and the Great Hall fell silent. Finley noted that a chair at the professor's table was empty. She recognized all of the professors, but realized that Professor Wormroot, the Potions Master, was absent from his usual spot beside their Herbology professor, Professor Longbottom.

McGonagall cleared her throat, "Welcome to Hogwarts! Whether it be your last year," she smiled warmly at some Seventh Years, Finley included, "or your first." The First Years looked excitedly at one another. "A few things before we tuck in. The Forbidden Forest is absolutely forbidden unless accompanied by Professor Hagrid. Curfew is at 9pm every night. After dinner you will follow your House Prefects to your dormitory. And lastly, you will have noticed that our Potions Master, Professor Wormroot, is absent. His wife has fallen terminally ill and he has chosen to stay home with her. Replacing him indefinitely," she paused and a strange look fell across her face, almost pained, "is Professor George Weasley."

A tall, redheaded man, no older than thirty but with the eyes of someone much older, walked in and took his seat by Professor Longbottom, who hugged him like an old friend. She recognized Professor Weasley from his Chocolate Frog card but couldn't remember what the card had said of him. There was a smattering of applause and McGonagall continued, "Welcome, Professor Weasley. That is all I have to say! Enjoy the feast!"

Finley did enjoy the feast. Although, she did avoid ice cream when it was time for dessert. She had had enough of Simon's new creations for a lifetime. His Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans Ice Cream had scarred her for life. As had that month where he experimented with ginger. Instead she tucked into a hearty slice of strawberry cheesecake, her favorite. Soon, it was time for her, being a Prefect, to lead the First Years to their dorm where she gave the Fat Lady the password, which was "sanctus."

She had ignored most of the First Years' questions while climbing up to Gryffindor tower. They were the typical, "is there REALLY a giant squid in the Black Lake?" and "will Peeves be around ALL year?" or "what if I get lost?" She decided to give her typical answer,

"Look. There is all kinds of crazy stuff at Hogwarts. You will get lost. You will make the mistake of trusting Peeves. You will, for who knows what reason, miss your mum and dad. But the best thing to do at Hogwarts is just go with it. Troll in the dungeon? Don't be a hero. Giant Squid pull you into the lake? Well, didn't I tell you there was all kinds of crazy things here? Don't have any friends? You're at the best place on earth, with the best people in the world. Look at the person next to you. THAT'S your new best friend. Don't like how they look? Look the other direction. You can always find friends at Hogwarts. And if all else fails, go talk to Professor Hagrid. He cannot possibly get enough of you little pipsqueaks coming to see him. Don't eat anything he tries to feed you, mind, but he will be your friend. Now go to sleep. You're at a magical school and you get to wake up and learn MOTHER EFFING MAGIC in the morning."

She turned around, clambered through the portrait hole and headed towards her dormitory.

She curled up in bed with Potter the cat but couldn't go to sleep. She still couldn't remember what was on George Weasley's Chocolate Frog card and it bothered her. Why the look on McGonagall's face? How did he know Professor Longbottom? And why did he have such sad eyes? She got back up out of the four-poster bed and retrieved her schedule from her trunk at the foot it. Much to her excitement, she noted that her first class in the morning was Potions. Although she couldn't see him being too much fun as a teacher, she was still curious about their new Professor.

With that information to put her mind at ease, she climbed back in and fell asleep immediately.


End file.
